'Point-in-Time' homelessness count left unanswered questions

Chris Galbreth checks a highway overpass. About 20 volunteers spread out Thursday across Tippecanoe County, searching for the homeless.
John Terhune/Journal & Courier(Photo: John Terhune/Journal & Courier)Buy Photo

Signs of recent human habitation were obvious. It was about 7:30 a.m. Thursday and Chris Galbreth, a case manager at Wabash Center, a support agency for the developmentally disabled, was standing in a graffiti-lined alcove beneath a highway overpass in the woodlands along the Wabash River. A man-made circle of stones sat in the center. In the corners were charred fire pits. Bits of bottles and trash were strewn about.

But this well-known sleeping spot for the homeless — the back of the recess, Galbreth noted, "comfortably sleeps eight" — was empty that morning. "This is the first time I haven't seen any here," a disappointed Galbreth said before he backed out of the cave and began tracing the snowy footprints that led further into the woods. Galbreth, along with about 20 other volunteers, spread out Thursday across Tippecanoe County, searching for the homeless.

The annual "Point-in-Time Count," as the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development calls it, is a county-by-county census of the homeless that takes place each January.

Across the country, volunteers such as Galbreth fanned out in states and counties and cities, scouring libraries, probing beneath bridges and canvassing parks. The survey data will be compiled along with headcounts gathered from emergency day and night shelters, offering a glimpse of the homeless situation in each community.

There are several things the Point-in-Time survey is good for, such as gauging the usage rates of local shelters or providing a broad view of one day in the life of the area's homeless population. But judging the overall size of Tippecanoe County's homeless population isn't one of them. Although the tally provides a snapshot of how many individuals are on the street or in shelters over one 24-hour period, it falls far short of painting an accurate overall picture.

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Adam Murphy, right, talks Thursday with David Curtis at the CityBus Center during the survey. Curtis, who is originally from the East Coast, arrived in Lafayette last May. He’s since found transitional housing.(Photo: John Terhune/Journal & Courier)

For example, the count neglects the homeless who are doubling-up with family or friends. And its single-night approach fails to account for the ebb and flow of individuals who are homeless only part of the year.

That lack of precision — and the absence of a more accurate method to measure the homeless population — makes it difficult for homeless service providers to target ever-decreasing federal funding toward supporting those most in need. And it makes it easier for the general public to ignore a population many prefer not to see.

"For me, I don't think society really pays attention" to the homeless, said Michael Pearce, 27, who is homeless and an employed full-time student at Ivy Tech Community College. "For most of us, it's not really a choice we have."

The 2013 count found 6,064 homeless Hoosiers. That's down from 6,259 found in 2012. But other statistics suggest those figures severely undercount the true population of homeless across the state.

For example, in Indianapolis and surrounding Marion County, 1,599 homeless people were identified during the 2013 Point-in-Time survey. But an accompanying study from the Indiana University Policy Institute and the Coalition for Homelessness Intervention and Prevention estimated that between 4,800 and 8,000 people experienced homelessness during the year.

Data disparities

Last year, the Point-in-Time survey found 169 homeless people in Tippecanoe County and 220 in Indiana's Region 4, which includes Tippecanoe, Benton, Carroll, Clinton, Fountain, Montgomery, Warren and White counties. But the number of homeless clients who went through just one local shelter hints at a much larger population. In 2013, 636 individuals stayed at least one night at Lafayette Urban Ministry's emergency night shelter.

A figure compiled for the 2012 Solutions Beyond Shelters homeless plan resulted in the most expansive estimation to date of Tippecanoe County's homeless population. That estimate, based on housing inventory and data from local shelters, along with Point-in-Time data, found that about 900 individuals face homelessness throughout an average year.

It's impossible to know just how far off the Point-in-Time count is from the true size of the homeless population. But those involved in Lafayette-area homeless services agree the data don't tell the whole story.

"When I look at the numbers every year, I say, 'This isn't right,'" said Joyce Fasani, director of Lafayette Urban Ministry's emergency homeless shelter. "Because I see 500 to 600 people a year. And they tell me this is all the homeless? No. No, that's wrong."

For the past three years, Jasmine Dowd, a program coordinator for YWCA Greater Lafayette, has coordinated the Point-in-Time survey for Region 4. Although it has flaws, Dowd said, what the survey provides is better than nothing.

"It really helps us to gauge what we're doing right and identify the gaps," Dowd said. "At the same time, it is a snapshot, so how accurate is it?"

The answer, most seem to agree, is not very.

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Chris Galbreth, right, and Adam Murphy speak with Jimmy Clark at the CityBus Center. Clark has been homeless since he and his girlfriend broke up last week.(Photo: John Terhune/Journal & Courier)

In 2013, an outside consultant hired by the city of Key West, Fla., found the city's homeless population was at least 1,422. That year's Point-In-Time survey found 480 were homeless, according to the Florida Keys Keynoter.

A similar outside study in Oahu, Hawaii, found the Point-in-Time survey underestimated that city's homeless by at least 60 percent in 2013, according to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

Lafayette has never engaged in such a study, mostly because of a lack of funding rather than lack of interest, according to those involved in homeless services.

Federal mandate

So why conduct the survey each year? The survey and the manner in which it's conducted are spelled out in federal regulations through the Continuum of Care Program, a set of competitively awarded homeless grants run by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The number of homeless as determined by the count is not directly related to the federal dollars an agency or community receives. In other words, it's nothing like public school funding, in which a certain number of students translates into a certain number of dollars. Instead, the count is one of many requirements for those entities to be eligible to apply for funding.

"We would hope that if we show a bigger picture of the need, then that would drive up the dollars coming into our community," said Jennifer Layton, executive director of Lafayette Transitional Housing Center. "And that, in a perfect world, is exactly what it's supposed to do. However, we've got some federal funding challenges ... and really they've only got one size of a bucket. So when, throughout the country, homelessness is an issue, they divvy the bucket up as best they can."

Although the count is inaccurate, it's considered best practice when it comes to judging fluctuations in the homeless population over time. Shelters already are contending with dwindling federal funding; if they were to opt out of the count, they'd effectively be forfeiting their right to a slice of the homeless assistance funding still available.

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Every year volunteers comb Tippecanoe and surrounding counties for the Point-in-Time homeless count. The effort, a federal mandate, gives a snapshot of homelessness in the area. - Mikel Livingston/JConline

Funding disconnect

In 2013-14, Indiana received more than $2 million in Emergency Solutions Grants, one type of funding tied to participation in Point-in-Time. That funding supports operational expenses, such as utilities, insurance and some staffing costs, for shelters. This year, $185,233 of that funding goes directly to the six eligible Tippecanoe County shelters — Family Promise, Lafayette Transitional Housing Center, Lafayette Urban Ministry, Mental Health America, the Salvation Army Lafayette and the YWCA.

All six of the area's shelter agencies saw reductions in their Emergency Solutions Grants from 2012-13 to the 2013-14 fiscal years, forcing them to maintain homeless support programs with funding from other sources. In 2012-13, for example, $50,000 each was awarded to Lafayette Transitional Housing Center, Lafayette Urban Ministry and Mental Health of America. In the 2013-14 fiscal year, those agencies received $38,964, $31,832 and $38,041, respectively.

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David Curtis sits in the lobby Thursday, January 30, 2014, at the CityBus Centerin Lafayette. Originally from the East Coast, Curtis arrived in Lafayette last May. Homeless, he lived for several months beneath a bridge. Now, Curtis is in transitional housing.(Photo: John Terhune/Journal & Courier)

"Clearly it's not because of the need going down," Layton said. "It is clearly a funding issue, that the government only has so much money to go around and (the Emergency Solutions Grant) is one of the programs that's going to be cut."

Eligible school districts also can receive dollars to identify homeless students and offer support — with transportation or food, for example — as long as their communities participate in the Point-in-Time exercise. West Lafayette and Tippecanoe school corporations are ineligible because of the relatively low number of students who have been identified as homeless: West Lafayette schools have no students this year fitting that description; TSC has 71.

Lafayette School Corp. has never applied for that funding, assistant superintendent John Layton said. He said the district already adequately identifies homeless students. Those students are then supported through the district's own dollars for book costs, transportation and other expenses.

So far this year, LSC has identified 97 students as homeless, but Layton said that number typically climbs to an average of 180 by the end of each school year.

Many of those students enjoy school because class offers structure in a life otherwise full of disarray, said Karen Combs, LSC's director of elementary education.

"I've seen big old high school kids cry because they don't know where they're going to sleep tonight," Combs said. "I've seen an increase in the homeless population and also an increase in the almost homeless population. ... Very few days go by where I don't talk with a building administrator about some type of need regarding basics like shelter, food and water."

Matter of definition

A major frustration with the survey stems from its most important question: Where did you sleep last night? Depending on how that question is answered, a homeless person may not be homeless at all, based on the federal definition.

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When a drunken David Curtis was kicked off an Amtrak last year, his life as homeless in Lafayette began.

HUD defines homelessness into four categories:

Individual or family that lacks fixed, regular and adequate nighttime residence;

Individual or family that will imminently lose their primary nighttime residence;

An unaccompanied youth younger than 25 or families with children that have had inconsistent housing in the preceding 60 days; and

Any individual or family attempting to flee domestic violence that lacks another residence or the network to find permanent housing.

Not fitting into those categories, however, are "couch surfers" — those homeless who temporarily crash with friends or family instead of checking into homeless shelters. The government's implied message is, if you have a roof over your head on the night of the count, even if it's only for that night, you're technically not homeless.

"That's the thing that's really scary," Dowd said. "Based on the survey, if someone slept on a couch, they're not homeless even if you know they're homeless."

There's no way of knowing just how many couch surfers have not been counted by the Point-in-Time survey, only to return to "true" homelessness in the days and weeks after the count.

"I can spend two nights on somebody's couch, but come Friday I don't have anyplace to go," said Maj. Jim Irvine of the Salvation Army Lafayette, posing a hypothetical. "I'd say I'm homeless. The government says, 'No, you're not.' Have we solved anything by not counting them? That's the real question. What are we solving by using this number?"

One rationale behind not including couch surfers: The survey seeks to find the segment of citizens at the bottom end of the scale, those most in need of supportive services who don't have the option of calling on friends or family for a spare bed or couch.

"They really are looking for who are the people in the most need," Dowd said. If you're on a couch "you're resourceful, and they don't see that as an emergency. Homelessness is thought of as an emergency. They're basically saying, 'Who are our most vulnerable citizens?'"

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Bryan Smurr, left, talks Thursday with Adam Murphy to schedule an appointment for the Shelter Plus Care program in Lafayette. Smurr who is originally from southern Kentucky, is homeless since his son moved away.(Photo: John Terhune/Journal & Courier)

Question of timing

Another question about the survey's validity stems from the time of year the count is held. HUD regulates that the Point-in-Time count take place in the last two weeks of January.

But winter weather can inhibit potential volunteers and influence the count's effectiveness with more homeless calling on friends and family to get off the street and out of the cold or leaving town for warmer climates.

"Maybe people haven't rolled out a hospitality mat, but they don't want people to die either," Jennifer Layton said. "I think people have a lot higher tolerance of their friends and family in the wintertime."

Local shelters typically see a dip in guests during the winter months. When subzero temperatures set in the week of Jan. 6, for example, the Mental Health America day shelter and the LUM night shelter were under capacity.

But even if HUD allowed more flexibility in the date of the survey, the proposition could be lose-lose. Hold the count in the summer and the homeless population might be more spread out and harder to track down.

"I would just venture to guess if we did something in the summer here it would be much more difficult to find people living outside,"Jennifer Layton said. "We've had people that live in or near Dumpsters, people that sleep inside elevators when buildings are closed. People will do whatever they need to do to seek shelter as long as their mental health is at a place where they know they need to seek shelter."

During an introductory meeting her first year overseeing the local count, Dowd asked officials with the Indiana Housing &amp; Community Development Authority why the count takes place in the winter.

"Why wouldn't you do that in the summer where people would be more willing to volunteer and people who are sleeping outside, you know that they are homeless?" Dowd asked. "Whereas in the winter, (a homeless person) might find someone to take them in that one night."

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Bryan Smurr's life as homeless began with an injury sustained in a 30-foot fall from a Kentucky ridge.

Her question didn't get much traction.

"HUD does mandate it to happen in the last two weeks of January," said Angelica Hass, program coordinator for IHCDA. "I believe it's because it is cold and people would be seeking shelter who otherwise might have spent the night outside. I think they do it so that people are at shelters and easier to find."

Leslie Mann is executive director of Family Promise, a shelter specializing in temporary housing for families with children.

"I guess they want to know, under the harshest conditions, how many people are really without homes," Mann said. "I think it would be great if we could do one in the winter and one in the summer and compare the data. But it's a huge undertaking to do it. It's a big deal."

Gaining trust

It's easy to ask, "Where did you sleep last night?" It isn't always easy getting the homeless to talk.

"The most challenging thing is to get them to trust you and talk to you for any length of period," Galbreth said. "If we can get someone to actually communicate with us, sit down and talk, we can have luck."

On Thursday, Adam Murphy, a planner and project manager for the city of Lafayette, found Jimmy Clark sleeping in a tent tucked into a patch of West Lafayette woods.

Murphy, who has volunteered for the Point-in-Time survey every year since 2008, made noise as he approached the tent so he wouldn't scare its occupant.

Clark told Murphy that he lost his job at the end of December. He's been homeless since he and his girlfriend broke up early last week.

Clark is searching for a job.

"It's rough trying to get around when it's like this, when you have no resources or no money coming in," he said. "You've just got to keep a level head and think positive. That's all anybody can do in this situation."

After confirming that Clark was homeless, Murphy provided information on local shelters and services.

Murphy pointed him in the right direction, but whether Clark will take advantage of those resources or remain in his tent is up to Clark.

"You give him your card, give him your information," Murphy said. "He may or may not come back for services. The question is, is he willing to be engaged in what we're doing?"